Here are some interesting excerpts from Ruben Amaro’s press conference, which took place this morning at 11 a.m. He addresses such things as the Jayson Werth negotiations, the way the Phillies performed in the postseason, and how they’ll go about getting better.
Amaro on the cost of Werth: “I havent had any discussions with Scott yet…I guess the following question is, ‘do we have enough money to do it and would we like to bring him back?’ I think the the answer to both questions is, yes. However, that’ll kind of depend on what the ask is and ultimately how that’ll affect us on other possible moves we’d have to make to do that.”
Amaro on the length of a possible Werth deal: “I think length is always an issue, it’s probably the most poignant issue, always.”
Amaro on the season the Phillies had: “I think it was a successful year. It was a disappointing finish to the year because our expectations were that we were going to be the World Series champions. That’ll be our expectation next year as well. We did not perform as well as we would have liked when it was time to perform in the playoffs. I think pitching-wise we performed very well, offensively we did not. Defensively we did not, which is not characteristic of us.”
Amaro on the age issues with this team: “I think there’s three elements we have to be ready to handle this offseason. One is our six free agents, we have to deal with those. I think we have to deal with our age because we’re starting to move into and past the, you know, prime ages of production. And I think we have to address the bullpen, because it’s something that could be, or could have been, an Achillies heel.”
Yeah, do I think about the age – I do. Do we have to start filtering some youth into our club? Yes, I believe that too. At the same time, we want to be a contender again, so we have to balance those two things.”
Amaro on changing up the offense a bit: “I don’t know if we have to reconfigure…but I think what we have to do is…frankly, I didn’t like the way we approached our at-bats during the course of these last (few games). We had a two month period where we didn’t swing the bats well at all. Part of that is because we didn’t have our guys playing everyday and we didn’t have, necessarily, our health. And I think that probably contributed to it. But I think overall, our offensive approach – we kind of have to take a look at that and make sure we improve in that area.”
